i think it must be one of the biggest prequels - must only be the SW prequels which are bigger

must be fairly high up on most successful relaunch too (not that it was a proper reboot but it was sort of promoted as such abit) - think only TASM, Rise of the Apes, Clash Titans, Casino Royale were bigger (adjusted Batman Begins, and maybe a couple of others would be bigger also)

original caught audiences off guard and has become this big fun cult movie - especially on dvd (more so than any other recent action film), Liam Neeson reborn as an action star, endless quoteable lines, the famous particular set of skills speech, crazy action etc etc so second should do at least as well/abit better, but then again Unknown (aka Taken 2 in everything but name) and The Grey(aka Bryan Mills vs Wolves) were sort of made off the back of Taken and although had similar openings in US, overall didnt do anywhere near as well overall (Unknown = 21m opening/130m ww...Grey = 19m opening/77m ww), but then this is the proper sequel to Taken, and while reviews arent good they wernt for the first either (empires single star rating), plus fellow big name action films Bourne/Ex2 are doing fairly solid BO ...so based on that going with: 35m opening. 150m US. 150m forgien = 300m ww (unless it goes like Rambo2/T2/Austin Powers2/Matrix Reloaded/TDK due to the cult appeal of the original and does something like 60m opening/250m US/200m forgien = 450m...but dont see that happening)

Unknown made less than half of what Taken made in the US, and it couldn't have been more blatant in its attempt to cash in on the latter's success.

A huge picture of Liam Neeson and a tag line with the word "TAKE" in big letters (in font as prominent as the film's own title), I wonder...

I'm also wondering why you deliberately deleted the part where I provided a link to Liam's box office results and my mention of The A Team disappointing? It clearly wasn't to save space since you quoted absolutely everything else

No, Liam Neeson is not a guaranteed box office performer but these days brands mean more than stars. Taken, despite some naysayers, has a lot of good will from the general audience and was a big home video hit as well as a surprise theatrical hit. Its video sales to cinema sales attach rate was well above the standard. Had it not been for the box-office slump post-cinema shootings I would say it was a guarantee to surpass the original. Now, who knows. But it would have to seriously alienate its fanbase to drop off more than 50% of its attendence.

You also could switch things around and say that it was the power of Taken's success that propelled Unknown's gross and it probably wouldn't have made half of what it did had it not piggybacked on Taken.

The relevance is that Taken stands so far above his other action roles that it seems more like lightning striking twice if the sequel gets anywhere near the same figure, rather than performing similarly to his subsequent roles.

You could say the same thing about Bruce Willis and the Die Hard movies. He didn't headline a US hit since The Sixth Sense until Die Hard 4 came out and he probably won't headline another one until Die Hard 5 comes out.

You could say the same thing about Bruce Willis and the Die Hard movies. He didn't headline a US hit since The Sixth Sense until Die Hard 4 came out and he probably won't headline another one until Die Hard 5 comes out.

I'm trying to think who his next villain could be, what's the German word for arthritis?

Yeah I suppose, I'm hoping it is a hit to be honest because I've been a bit of a fan of old Liam since I was a kid, and it's nice to see him doing so well. We'll wait and see I suppose.